Country Reports

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Table of Country Scores

Of the 199 countries and territories assessed for 2016, a total of 61 (31 percent) were rated Free, 72 (36 percent) were rated Partly Free, and 66 (33 percent) were rated Not Free. This balance marks a slight shift toward the Partly Free category compared with the edition covering 2015, which featured 62 Free, 71 Partly Free, and 66 Not Free countries and territories. There were three status changes in Freedom of the Press 2017: Afghanistan improved from Not Free to Partly Free, the Maldives declined from Partly Free to Not Free, and Poland declined from Free to Partly Free. The report found that 13 percent of the world’s inhabitants lived in countries with a Free press, while 42 percent had a Partly Free press and 45 percent lived in Not Free environments. The population figures are significantly affected by two countries—China, with a Not Free status, and India, with a Partly Free status—that together account for over a third of the world’s population. The percentage of those enjoying a Free media in 2016 remained at its lowest level since 1996, when Freedom House began incorporating population data into the findings of the report.

0 is the most free and 100 is the least free.
* denotes territories, as opposed to independent countries.